Cover Image: How to Find a Higgs Boson—and Other Big Mysteries in the World of the Very Small

How to Find a Higgs Boson—and Other Big Mysteries in the World of the Very Small

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I enjoyed this book, the author made a complicated and hard to explain subject really interesting and I found the book easy to read. I recommend for all science lovers

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A good, solid read about particle physics in general, and the confirmation of the Higgs boson at CERN. The beginning may seem deceptively simple for a layperson who already knows the basics, but it's obviously here to pave the way for what follows, which goes a little more into the nitty-gritty technical details. Maybe someone who really doesn't know anything about physics might find it difficult to follow, although I'm not convinced; the way it's explained should take care of that. It was really interesting, and a testament, too, to what a venture such as CERN can accomplish.

Also, yet another proof that we really, really need to stop funding research and experiments according to "how much money we can make off it", because if this keeps happening, we'll just stop making new discoveries altogether. Another interesting side of this book was how it illustrated in which (often unexpectedly) physics CAN actually lead to very useful applications, even though the research may have appeared as random at first--PET scanners, for instance: who would've known?

The author's writing is easy to follow, both when it comes to the book's structure and to its translation. I'll have no qualms recommending it to non-physicists, and to physicists as well, come to think of it.

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Science nonfiction books will always be one of my favourite genres. Even though science is my 9-5, I still love learning new stuff from other fields of science that aren’t my norm.

It’s definitely aimed towards those without a physics background, but I felt that the author explained everything well. I loved how he related particle physics to everyday modern technologies as this helps the reader fully understand/appreciate the relevance of the science upon their lives. The descriptions of life as a researcher were great, and I found that I was able to relate even though I’m a biochemist and not a particle physicist!

Overall, I recommend this book to those without a physics individual’s who have experience in this area may find this a little too simple at times. Very cool cover too!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

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This is pretty good and accessible to everyone. It's told with humor and examples, and info is easy to grasp. Readers are likely to learn some interesting and new things that will stick with them for a while.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

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I could not read this book. It came in a very complicated format and seemed a bit over my head. I tried but it was not easy following the words in this format!

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I picked up this book because I was really excited to hear more about the Higgs boson discovery from a scientist who actually was a part of it, and I also hoped to get a clearer picture of particle physics in general. Both of these things happened! However, at what cost.

The first section is about scientific discovery, its various impacts and applications on society, why it's important, and how discoveries often lead to more questions, and is followed by what is basically an AP chem review. The next section covers the Standard Model and the path that got us to it, culminating with the nigh miraculous success of the discovery of the Higgs boson. The last chapter highlights some of the still unanswered questions in particle physics.

I'm not really the right person for this book because it's intended for a non-scientific audience and I'm about to get my engineering degree. Given this, it makes sense that I found the first half of the book, which focused on the nature of scientific research along with how some notable discoveries were impactful, to be very boring. I found most of the material in this section to be either tangential, because I didn't care, or redundant, because I already knew it. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more since it was about modern particle physics and the Higgs boson discovery, which were the topics I was actually interested in reading. By the end I felt like I understood what an impressive and profound accomplishment the discovery of the Higgs boson was and could probably have a 10min conversation about particle physics with my dad. I personally wish the book wasn't quite so high-level but it made for a light and more casual read, definitely accessible for a wide range of people. I also wish he'd put a graphic of the Standard Model at the beginning so I could refer back to it, like the Periodic Table in the front of chemistry books? I ended up googling it and keeping that tab open while reading.

Also, and this is just a personal gripe, I'm always annoyed when an author talks about people with a certain occupation as inherently different/special e.g. artists, poets, scientists in this case. Like, sure a scientist may have some different skill sets but they're also just people, and the work they do is their job. It makes me uncomfortable because now "scientist" is this exclusive, exceptional identity that someone was born into and will always exemplify, instead of just a way to describe one aspect of someone's life at this current time.

Overall, I thought the first half of the book was dead boring but enjoyed the second half enough that I don't regret reading it. I'd recommend it for "a non-scientific audience" aka anyone who dipped out of STEM classes as soon as legally possible.

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As someone that has always struggled with science and anything remotely relative to it, I hesitantly read this on the recommendation of someone. I was thoroughly surprised at the author's ability to make physics easy to understand. I found it interesting that electric cars and wind turbines are not as good for the environment as they are advertised to be. This book was really eye-opening in so many ways and the author held my interest so much that I was encouraged to do further research online after reading the book!

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'How to Find a Higgs Boson and Other Big Mysteries in the World of Very Small' by CERN particle physicist, Ivo Van Vulpen, is a surprisingly fun romp through some of the most complex discoveries in the history of the field.

The various discoveries and theories are told in layman's terms, anecdotes, and analogies even the most novice reader could enjoy. Initially, I had found the text to be overly simplified and a little repetitive, but as I read on.. I realized the author was setting the tone. He intended to get into some relatively heavy topics (no pun intended), even leading up to what he referred to as "one of the most abstract new concepts in physics," and wanted anyone picking the book up to be able to make it through to the end with him.. with a new understanding of the ideas and experiences he planned to share.

There are a few things especially, that I think the average reader will get a kick out of.. like the way the author shares the practical applications of many of the discoveries that have been made throughout the years. Though his analogies, he explains things such as how energy is produced in power plants.. also how electric engines like the Tesla uses (while better than fossil fuel engines), wind turbines, etc.. are not as "squeaky clean" as we think they are because they still have to get that power from traditional sources.

He goes in depth about the presence of particle accelerators and other quantum mechanics developments in our daily lives, via PET scanners, X-Ray technology, old televisions, computer monitors, and more. He even breaks down how they work, as well as the process of creating, destroying, and transforming particles entirely.. turning them into new.. and in some cases, undiscovered particles like his team did the Higgs Boson back in 2012.

"For example, an MRI scan of the knee of a particle physicist who has always been an avid amateur footballer may show that his cartilage is worn and that he should spend his time writing books instead of dreaming of a future on the FC Barcelona first team."

What I found fun, in addition to his sense of humor, were the analogies he sometimes chose to give the reader a better understanding of the scope of a the subject. Like the true physical size of both the series of particle detectors (one of which is a camera the size of the White House in Washington, D.C.) and the Large Hadron Collider, what it's like maneuvering those protons through it, what the equivalent force of that mass in real world terms, and additionally the ways scientists are now trying to capture evidence of dark matter through labs in underground mines and caves.. designed to avoid cosmic ray interference and hopefully get a glimpse of what they seek.

If you have even a remote interest in the field of particle physics or quantum mechanics, whether you're a novice or you consider yourself reasonably well read, I think you'll find something enjoyable about this book. I know I did.

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The author insists that this book was written for a general audience but I believe that his subconscious target demographic was school children.. If you read this book you must skip chapter one which is a grade school level review of the research of Maxwell, Rutherford, Faraday, etc. You should begin with chapter two which in my opinion you should only skim and then begin your serious reading with chapter three.

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How to Find a Higgs Boson... by Ivo van Vulpen is an accessible, chattily written book about the world of the elementary particles making up atoms and the search to find them. There are a few mathematical formulae, but these are explained well and they aren't too scary for a non-specialist.

As Richard Feynman is supposed to have said: "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics." The author made me feel like I did understand a little and so therefore I suppose I don't, but I feel more prepared to describe the limits of my understanding. His enthusiasm for science and for the CERN Large Hadron Collider collaboration was infectious and he made me eager to find out what's next to be discovered. What is the deal with gravity? What is dark matter and is it really a thing? It's an interesting time to be alive.

The book is translated from the original Dutch, and it seems like the translator has done a good job.

I recommend this book for everyone who is interested in the subject, especially for non-physicists.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Recently I have been reading a lots of books about quantum mechanics and physics. I find them wonderful and eye opening.
This is one such book that opens gates of large hydron colloider to general reader.
It is exhaustive yet highly readable treatise of Geneva based particle accelerator which discovered Higgs boson.
First their is introduction to theories related to particle physics and then their is introduction to particles themselves.
It is fascinating to discover scientists who deciphered atomic structure.
Then finally how scientists work at LHC, Geneva to study new particles.
Power of the book is its comprehensibility.
It makes most of the things recognisable.
How our universe works is quite different when we reach subatomic level.
Highly recommended to science lovers.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

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I enjoyed How To Find A Higgs Boson. It was a bit slow to get going for me, but the later chapters were excellent.

Ivo van Vulpen is a working physicist who was a part of the team at CERN which confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, so he knows what he’s talking about. He also writes well (and has chosen a good translator in David McKay) so the book is both accurate and readable. I did find the early chapters a little discursive and off the point, delving into the history of physics, back to Faraday’s work on electromagnetic induction. Some of this is necessary for context, of course, but there have been a great many excellent books on all this and I could have done with a slightly more truncated and tightly focused approach.

Around half way, though, things got really interesting with van Vulpen’s excellent descriptions of the intricate, complex processes involved in the CERN project and also his obvious love for and pride in the whole enterprise. Perhaps a few pages on how the results are analysed statistically to a level which could be considered proof isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I found this section fascinating throughout, and also the final chapter on what we still don’t understand and how physicists are trying to tackle these difficult questions.

I have some knowledge of physics which certainly helped, but I think this would be suitable for a non-scientist who is willing to put in a bit of brainwork. Van Vulpen keeps the mathematics to a minimum and the rewards are well worth the effort. It’s a readable, enjoyable and rewarding book which I can recommend.

(My thanks to Yale University Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)

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Till the forth chapter I understood everything, then everything became nebulous like the electrons around the nucleus :) Anyway even if I struggled trough the book, it was one very well explained book and one of the easiest to read about the subject.

Fino al quarto capitolo avevo capito tutto, poi é diventato tutto confuso e nebuloso, come gli elettroni intorno al nucleo ;) Comunque, anche se piú a fatica, era decisamente un libro ben spiegato questo, specialmente se paragonato ad altri che ho letto in precedenza.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

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